APH 



API 



trees and elsewhere. When the spring 

 expands the foliage of plants, the female 

 deposits its eggs on them in great num- 

 bers, from whence, in a short time, pro- 

 ceeds the larva, a small grub, of a dark 

 lead-colour, spotted with orange. These 

 may be observed in the summer season 

 running pretty briskly over all kinds of 

 plants, and, if narrowly watched, they 

 will be found to devour the aphides wher- 

 ever they find them. The same may be 

 observed of the lady-bird, in its perfect 

 state. Another most formidable enemy 

 to the aphis is a very minute, black, and 

 slender ichneumon My, which eats its way 

 out of the aphis, leaving the dry inflated 

 skin of the insect adhering to the leaf like 

 a small pearl : such may always be found 

 where aphides are in plenty. Different 

 species of aphides are infested with dif- 

 ferent ichneumons. There is scarcely a 

 division of nature, in which the musca or 

 fly is not found : of these, one division, 

 the aphidivora, feeds entirely on aphides. 

 Of the different species of aphidivorous 

 flies, which are numerous, having mostly 

 bodies variegated with transverse stripes, 

 their females may be seen hovering over 

 plants infested with aphides, among which 

 they deposit their eggs on the surface of 

 the leaf. The larva, or maggot, produced 

 from such eggs, feeds, as soon as hatched, 

 on the younger kinds of aphis, and as it 

 increases in size, attacks and devours 

 those which are larger. The larva of the 

 hemerobius feeds also on the aphides, and 

 deposits its eggs on the leaves of such 

 plants as are beset with them. The earwig 

 is likewise an enemy to them, especially 

 such as reside in the curled leaves of 

 fruit-trees, and the purses formed by cer- 

 tain aphides on the poplars and other 

 trees. To these may be added the small- 

 er soft-billed birds that feed on insects. 



APHORISM, a maxim or principle of 

 a science ; or a sentence which compre- 

 hends a great deal in a few words. The 

 term is seldom used but in medicine and 

 law. We say, the aphorisms of Hippo- 

 crates, the aphorisms of the civil law, po- 

 litical aphorisms, &c. 



APHROD1TA, in natural history, a ge- 

 nus of worms, of the order Molusca. Bo- 

 dy creeping 1 , oblong, covered with scales, 

 and furnished with numerous bristly fas- 

 ciculate feet on each side ; mouth termi- 

 nal, cylindrical, retractile ; feelers two, 

 setaceous, annulate ; and four eyes. There 

 are nine species. A. aculeata has an oval 

 body, brown, beneath flesh colour, with 

 long silky changeable hair on each side 

 the body": it inhabits the European seas, 



is found in the belly of the cod-fish, and 

 feeds on testaceous animals ; is from four 

 to seven inches long. 



APHYLLANTHES, the blue Monfpelier 

 pink, in botany, a genus of the Hexandria. 

 Monogynia class of plants, the calyx of 

 which is composed of a number of imbri- 

 cated, lanceolated spathx ; the corolla 

 consists of six petals, of an obversely oval 

 figure, terminating at the base in very 

 narrow ungues, and patent at the limb, 

 forming a kind of tube below it : the fruit 

 is a turbinated capsule of a triangular 

 figure, and contains three cells ; the seeds 

 are oval. There is but a single species. 



APHYTEIA, in botany, a genus of the 

 Monadelphia Triundria. Calyx large, 

 funnel-form, three-cleft ; three petals in- 

 serted into and shorter than the calyx ; 

 germ inferior ; berry one-celled, many- 

 seeded ; steels imbedded. 



APIAN, (PETER), in biography, an 

 eminent astronomer and mathematician, 

 called in German JBietiewitz, was born at 

 Loisnich, in Misnia, and became professor 

 of mathematics at IngoLstadt, in 1524. 

 He wrote several treatises on astronomy 

 and the mathematics, and enriched these 

 sciences with many instruments and ob- 

 servations. His first work was a " Trea- 

 tise on Cosmography, or Geograpnical 

 Instructor ;" this was published in 1530, 

 and in three years after lie constructed at 

 Nuremberg a curious instrument, which 

 shewed the hour of the day, by means of 

 the sun's rays, in all parts of the earth. 

 In the year 1540, he published his princi- 

 pal work, entitled " Astronomicon Caesa- 

 rseum," containing many interesting ob- 

 servations, with the descriptions and divi- 

 sins of instruments, calculations of eclip- 

 ses, and the construction of them in piano. 

 In a second part of the work is a descrip- 

 tion of the construction and use of an 

 astronomical quadrant, to which is annex- 

 ed observations on five different comets : 

 in these he shews that the tails of comets 

 are always projected in a direction oppo- 

 site to the sun. Our limits do not allow 

 us to enumerate all the treatises of Apian ; 

 they were as respectable as numerous, 

 and the author was treated with the kind- 

 est attention by the emperor Charles V., 

 who published several of his works at 

 his own expense, conferred upon him the 

 honour of nobility, and presented him with 

 3000 crowns. Apian died at Ingolstadt 

 in 1552, leaving behind him a high repu- 

 tation for learning, and a son Philip, who 

 was also an eminent astronomer, and 

 taught the sciences both at Tubingen and 

 Ingolstadt. Philip died in 1589, and 





